


So You Say It's Your Birthday

by notastranger



Series: The Adventures of Charlie and Scientist [8]
Category: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-03
Updated: 2016-07-03
Packaged: 2018-07-19 21:04:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7377307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notastranger/pseuds/notastranger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Scientist finds out that Charlie's birthday is TODAY. Will he have enough time to prepare something special? And how come Charlie never said anything about his birthday in the first place?</p>
            </blockquote>





	So You Say It's Your Birthday

**Author's Note:**

> Written for mrsdanieljackson on tumblr. I hope you have a great birthday!

Scientist was caught completely off-guard when Tang-See asked if he was doing anything special for Charlie’s birthday. “What?! That’s today? How do you know that?”

“It’s what he put on his volunteer application form,” Tang-See replied meekly, likely regretting his choice in polite conversation. “It was, ah, easy to remember. He spent five minutes trying to convince me that ‘Septober’ is a real month.”

Scientist got out of his chair and paced the floor of his small office. “He didn’t say a word about it this morning,” he muttered, half to himself. “Not even a hint…”

“You still have time to plan something,” Tang-See said helpfully. “The day isn’t over yet.”

Scientist stopped his pacing. “Yes… yes, I suppose that’s true. But only if I hurry.” Grabbing his jacket, he opened his office door and headed outside. “Thanks for giving me a heads-up, Tang-See. Please let my 2pm meeting know that I’ll need to postpone until tomorrow.”

“But—“ Scientist shut the door behind him; Tang-See looked down at his thesis notes and sighed. “ _I_ was your 2pm meeting.”

~*~

“We tried to plan a special birthday for him once." Dee wrinkled her nose. "The idiot put spaghetti in my purse. It was a waste of time."

"Not a total waste," Frank interjected. It was only the two of them tending bar that afternoon, which was just fine with Scientist. Considering how Mac barely tolerated him and Dennis was an undiagnosed sociopath, they were the lesser of the four evils at Paddy’s. "Remember the sculptures we made from Charlie's dream journal?"

"Oh, yeah!" Dee smiled a little. "He really liked those. And his rat stick, too." She took a swig from her beer bottle. "Just buy him something gross or weird and he'll be grateful. You don't need to take him out or anything."

Charlie had shown Scientist his dream journal once -- the images inside were difficult to interpret, but at least it was a start. "What are you two doing for him this year?"

Dee shook her head. "Yeah, no. We're not doing anything for Charlie this year. Once was more than enough."

Frank snorted and nudged Dee. "Like we're made of denim chicken, am I right?" They both shared a laugh and clinked their beer bottles together.

“All right, then. Thank you for the suggestion, Dee.” Scientist left Paddy’s and anxiously glanced at his watch. Only a few hours left to think of something special for Charlie’s birthday.

At least the Gang had set the bar extremely low.

~*~

Charlie had told Scientist that he could look through his dream journal whenever he wanted, but Scientist still felt a little guilty flipping through its tattered pages for inspiration. The early entries were a surreal mishmash of child-like drawings and incomprehensible writing. As Charlie’s literacy improved, so did the content of his dreams, but there wasn’t anything that Scientist considered gift-worthy. His hopes sank with each page turned, not a good idea in sight.

It was certainly a thorough journal. The beat-up spiral notebook had just two blank pages left; Charlie would need a new one soon…

Scientist stood up suddenly as inspiration struck. He put Charle’s dream journal back on the nightstand and headed out of the apartment. If he was quick enough, he’d have everything ready by the time Charlie came home for dinner.

~*~

Charlie walked through the apartment door and was greeted by the comforting smell of Scientist’s homemade mac ’n cheese. “Smells awesome, Doc! What’s the occasion?”

“I believe you already know the answer to that question.” Scientist smiled and gave the other man a welcoming hug. “Happy birthday, darling,” he added, with a tender kiss to the cheek.

Charlie buried his head in Scientist’s shoulder and squeezed back. “Thanks, man,” he muttered, voice muffled by Scientist’s shirt. “I didn’t think you’d remember.”

Scientist gently pulled Charlie back so that he could see his face. Charlie looked happy, but bashful as well, not quite meeting Scientist’s gaze. “Tang-See remembered for me,” Scientist admitted. “And I’m glad he did, but I can’t help but wonder why you didn’t say anything about it earlier.”

Charlie shrugged awkwardly. “No one’s ever made a big deal about my birthday, except my mom, and only if she was around. I didn’t expect you to, either. I mean, I know we’re gay for each other but we’re still dudes.”

“Well, this ‘dude’ enjoys celebrating the birthday of the person he cares about the most.” He kissed the top of Charlie’s head and let him go. “Now then, do you want to have dinner first and then open your present, or —“

“You got me a present?” Charlie looked around excitedly. “Where is it?”

“It’s on your nightstand,” Scientist said. “But—“

Charlie dashed into the bedroom like a dog after its ball. By the time Scientist caught up with him, Charlie had already torn off the wrapping paper. “Cool book,” he said appreciatively, rubbing the soft leather cover with his hands. “What’s it about?”

“Read the title and find out,” Scientist suggested with a pleased smile.

Charlie frowned a little, but did as instructed. He traced each embossed letter with his finger as he sounded out the words. “Dr…eam joo— no, journal. Dream journal.” He looked up at Doc in surprise. “You got me a new dream journal?”

“You barely had any room left in your old one. I wanted you to have one that wouldn’t fall apart so easily.” He took the journal from Charlie’s hands and flipped it open. “See? It has lines on one side for your writing, and then space on the other for your drawings. And a little space at the top for the date so you’ll always remember when you had your dream.”

“That was really thoughtful of you, Doc.” Charlie smiled at him brightly. “It’s like you read my mind.”

Scientist hugged him again, relieved. There was nothing quite as nice as picking out the perfect present for someone.

And now he had 364 days to plan for the next one.


End file.
